Under The Thundering Sky
by buttercupbella
Summary: "His smile, his enthralling smile, was now just a memory." Lucy is, hopelessly, on the verge of falling, but Natsu could never be there to catch her.
1. Chapter 1

**That Smile of His**

_buttercupbella_

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She felt incredibly weightless. The wind was flowing through her silky blond hair like torrents of merciless waves, and her arms were stretched wide, ready to embrace whatever there was in store for her.

The city lights were glimmering under the heavy, thundering sky. She preferred it here—noisy, busy, and full of life, just when she was about to lose her own. It was infinitely better this way. Her lips were cracking in the cold air, her knees trembling. She wasn't afraid of heights. She was afraid of falling.

Why did she end up here, in the first place? The shining brown eyes wondered, too, but her intuition spoke louder than logic. The twinkling lights were blurry now, distant, non-existent, as a tear smeared her cheek. If he was here, it would have been perfectly warm, like sitting in front of the hearth—but he wasn't here. He would never be here again.

She didn't know how to say goodbye forever. When she last saw his face, a smile was stretched from ear to ear, and the strange hair was glinting under the sun, fiery in every sense. She loved him, he didn't know. Why would he know? They were best of friends, sidekicks, subjects of unrequited romance. She loved him, he would never know.

He never knew—she never knew that they would never see each other again. As their hands felt the tips of each one last time, the train sped past and left. She was crying though she had no reason to do so. His smile, his enthralling smile, was now just a memory—he turned his back, his scarf dancing in the wind, only to be tainted with crimson…

She wanted to run after him, but he had already bid her goodbye. His warmth disappeared, and she was there, alone on station, with the lasting feel on her fingers. She is afraid of forgetting about him, of letting his hand go—she already did.

Now where was he? Gone, she didn't know where. As she towered over the streets, stretching her arms for an endless flight, she pictured his smile, a wide toothy grin, but also his last. Would this suffice for him lost forever? Would she see him again?

Her heart constricted as she forced her tears back, his smile imprinted on her mind again. There was something else about that smile of his—was it sadness? Did he know he was leaving for good? She forced it all back again—now was the time to fly.

Her knees wobbled and she burst into screams and wails.

She wasn't afraid of heights, she never was.

She was ready to fall..

_Don't, _somebody whispered, above the cacophony of all things living and lifeless. The blond hair swung back and forth, and for a moment, she realized that he has come back for her. She looked wildly around her surroundings, but he wasn't there—she didn't know if he only existed in her mind. _Don't, _somebody whispered again, a cold breath tickling the base of her neck.

The breath was cold, but she knew it was his.

Finally it all clicked—the last smile he gave her, the final touch of his hands, the sad, tiny song playing on in his head. She was right; it was sadness. Sadness that when he closed his eyes, she would not be there anymore. The entire world would be dead to him—and still, he wasn't able to tell her that he loved her.

_Don't, _he whispered again, as he drifted farther away, his voice getting silent with each fleeting moment. She stepped down from the elevated edge of the rooftop and looked up, into the thundering sky, where the blazing rapture made it impossible to see the stars.

_Don't, _he said, one last time. His apparition left her in a cold trance; her fingertips were yearning for his fire. Her hands were stiff like ice and the freezing tears kept on staining her cheeks.

But her neck was warm, wrapped with the scarf she never thought she would see again.

..

_When I saw you, I fell in love—and you smiled because you knew._

_-William Shakespeare_

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**|Author's Note|.** Boredom products are obviously abundant in my place. Corrections are always welcome. I hope that I wasn't too vague or emotionless. :) **Do **leave a review if you find yourself uneasy or if the story was satisfactory. Rantings are pretty much accepted; this is all for self-improvement.


	2. Chapter 2

Second part of the story; I hope you waited for it.

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**Those Tears of Hers**

_Buttercupbella_

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**.**

**You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.**

**.**

He felt incredibly shackled by gravity. Thumping wildly in his chest was his heart, his sad, broken heart, as he tried to drag his bloody feet across the rough field. He would be dead in a few hours, he knew. He wasn't afraid, but he wasn't confident, either.

Crimson started to drip down his neck, staining the scarf that he was endeared to all these years. His head was spinning yet he felt strangely calm enough. He could still feel her smooth hands on his palm, and her vanilla scent made it harder for him to take it all in—he was going to die without ever seeing her again.

The pain in his thigh was intensifying as he saw the terrifying reality of blood loss. He could still see the opponent standing before him with welcome arms, smiling nefariously at the torn soul that was him. _A few hours, _it kept repeating in his battered head. A few hours and all the agony will be over. Everything would come to an end. He would be nothing. _She_ would be nothing.

She could never be his, he concluded. As much as he loved her, fate prevented all possible happy endings—he loved her so much that he was ready to let her go. His love was one-sided, maybe yes; he was a coward to tell her that he loved her, definitely yes. But they were best of_friends. _He didn't know if they could be so much more than that; he only hoped that they would be.

The air was heavy with the smell of rust from the tattered scarf, which was veiling a part of the person he treasured the most. If he lost the scarf, then so be it—but never the thing that lay beneath it. For all he knew, it was all that still kept him alive.

_A few hours, _the countdown shortened, and perhaps now was the time to recall the best memories he ever had, for him to die as a happy man. But he could not do so. He could only picture the height of his hurt—the moaning of the train, the tears on her face, the last glimpse of her perfect blond locks, which he longed to touch—and yet, he found the will to smile at her a final time, before his very life ended. Why could he not run back to her? Why could he not just tell her that he didn't want to leave?

He could not move—he was frozen on the spot, afraid of all things uncertain, afraid of the prospect that she would not feel the same way. The golden object that remained cold to his skin, hidden from the eyes of his enemy, only reminded him of the chances he should have taken before he turned his back on her forever.

He was on his knees now. Second by second, he would count the shallow breaths that echoed in his hollow ribcage. Would he forget her when he died? Would she still remember him years after this day?

.

He wasn't afraid of dying.

.

He was afraid of not being with her.

.

He was falling, falling apart, falling into the endless darkness that was death. As he slumped on the solid ground with tears on his face, his tainted scarf tilted and the treasure he kept glinted under the sun—her beautiful face smiled, inside a golden locket that hung from his neck.

He was dead, but he would always be alive in her. She had a part of him now.

..

_I never knew until that moment how bad it could hurt to lose something you never really had._

_- from the TV series "The Wonder Years"_

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**|Author's Note| **I don't know if this was enough to fit the first part, but finally, I made the two-shot after a day. **Do** leave a review if you have anything, _anything _to say. I'm listening. This concludes "Under the Thundering Sky", and I hope it gave you satisfaction. Until then. :)


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